star jelly - pwdre ser

[nematode]

My last post was juvenile, I know.

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Anyway, I was doing some more searching about on the internet and found the abstract of a 1926 Nature article. It seems this debate is a bit Déjà vu:

Pwdre Ser (The Rot of the Stars)
H. A. BAYLIS
PERHAPS I may be allowed to reopen a subject which gave rise to a very interesting correspondence in NATURE in 1910. I refer to the mysterious jelly-like substance found lying about in open spaces, and popularly connected with ‘shooting-stars,’ about which Prof. T. McKenny Hughes contributed an interesting article to these columns on June 23, 1910. Many suggestions as to the origin of this substance were made both by Prof. Hughes and by later correspondents, but no definite conclusion seems to have been reached. Of course it cannot be taken for granted that the ‘jelly’ is always of the same nature. It may well be that the ‘jellies’ recorded by some observers were the plasmodia of Myxomycetes, or masses of Nostoc or some other organism. But it seems to have been suggested so early as 1667 by Merrett that the jelly consisted of the viscera of frogs. He says (I quote from Prof. Hughes) ”Regiae Societati palam ostendi solummodo oriri ex intestinis ranarum a corvis in unum locum congestis, quod aliis etiam ejusdem societatis viri praestantissimi postea confirmarunt”

[fairplay]

That's interesting, so it seems even in 1667 they were aware that bits of clearish jelly found in the countyside were a frogs innards.

I wonder when Pwdre ser and Star Jelly were first coined ?

Well done on finding this info.

Neil.

[The Woodman]

Here's an image of some jelly regurgitated by a Heron I found on Tuesday.

It's not a very exciting picture but there was some form in the substance - you can see it if you look hard / zoom in - presumably the indigestible parts of a frog.

I'm assuming that Herons catch frogs at this time of year by chance, finding them torpid in muddy substrates.

[The Woodman]

In my haste to press the button.....here it is

[valleyforge]

That's interesting Woodman ... did you witness the regurgitation, or are you just speculating that that it's from a heron?

Doesn't appear to be too much of a jelly mass as yet ... but I wonder how that might develop as it starts to soak up water.

Would be good if we could determine how quickly the jelly 'grows' ... and then disperses ... over an observable time period.

[The Woodman]

Hi Valleyforge

I saw the Heron from approximately 400 metres standing on the mown grass of a canal towpath near Burnley on Tuesday morning as the frost was thawing. As I got quite a bit nearer I could see that it becoming aware of my approach and raised its height from the "head tucked into shoulders" resting position. One second before it took off it regurgitated what you can see in the image. It was in one lump when I got to it and I pulled it apart with my fingers. At the very bottom of the the jelly in the image you might be able to see some darker matter. This looked very much like partly digested skin.

I hadn't thought of taking a picture until I was walking away thinking of this thread so I went back to take the picture. I've seen this a number of times over the years but I'm still not convinced that some of the jelly blobs I've seen on grass and moss without any other indicators are from frogs.

The next time I come across any jelly like matter I'll pick it up and have it looked at by someone with the resources to investigate it further.

[valleyforge]

That's a really insightful observation Woodman ... like you though I've also seen other types of gelatinous material on grass and in woodland that's probably a 'slime mould' of some type and not at all connected with frogs.

This type though, with heaped masses of clear jelly, I've come to recognize as being invariably associated with dead frogs. In some instances, the jelly has been around frogs that have clearly been predated, although not necessarily ingested & regurgitated, just torn apart.

On a couple of occasions of finding the jelly + frog parts on roads, the cause of death has more than likely been by squishing under the wheels of a vehicle.

What I don't understand as yet is just what causes the jelly to form ... that is, is it from the lining of the reproductive organs of only female frogs once they get exposed to water (in the same manner that jelly is produced when exuded around eggs to form spawn in contact with water), or is it caused through the (probable bacterial) breakdown of the innards in general, in contact with damp ground or air ... is perhaps the presence of cyanobacteria in the surrounding ground a necessary or contributing vector?

I wouldn't want to think that someone would feel the need to experiment by killing frogs in order to get a definitive answer though.

Let's just continue to keep our eyes open for further examples in the field, to gain a clearer understanding of the process.

[fairplay]

I think we are slowly 'getting there', but I would just like to say that I do not know of any 'Slime Moulds' that could be described as looking like clear jelly (at any stage of their fascinating lives).

There are several types of Fungi which are clear and 'jelly-like' such as some Exidia species, and there are occasionally white forms of Tremella mesenterica and Jelly Ear (formally called Jews Ear) found, but all these would be attached to wood so I cannot see how these could be mistaken for anything 'mysterious'.

Neil.